Related papers: Implications of recoil kicks for black hole merger…
The spin-orbit tilt angles $\theta_{1(2)}$ of merging stellar-mass black holes provide key insights into their astrophysical origin. Non-parametric population modelling of The LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA Collaborations (2025a, arXiv:2508.18083)…
We performed a series of 1381 full numerical simulations of high energy collision of black holes to search for the maximum recoil velocity after their merger. We consider equal mass binaries with opposite spins pointing along their orbital…
Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) span the approximate mass range $100$--$10^5\,M_\odot$, between black holes (BHs) formed by stellar collapse and the supermassive BHs at the centers of galaxies. Mergers of IMBH binaries are the most…
Regardless of their initial spins, the merger of two roughly equal mass black holes (BHs) produces a remnant BH of dimensionless spin $0.69$. Such remnants can merge with other BHs in dense stellar environments and produce hierarchical…
The loss of linear momentum by gravitational radiation and the resulting gravitational recoil of black-hole binary systems may play an important role in the growth of massive black holes in early galaxies. We calculate the gravitational…
Recent developments in numerical relativity have made it possible to follow reliably the coalescence of two black holes from near the innermost stable circular orbit to final ringdown. This opens up a wide variety of exciting astrophysical…
We obtain empirical formulae for the final remnant black hole mass, spin, and recoil velocity from merging black-hole binaries with arbitrary mass ratios and spins. Our formulae are based on the mass ratio and spin dependence of the…
Mergers of black hole (BH) and neutron star (NS) binaries are expected to be observed by gravitational wave observatories in the coming years. Until now, LIGO has only set an upper limit on this merger rate. BH-NS binaries are expected to…
Gravitational waves from the coalescence of binary black holes carry away linear momentum, causing center of mass recoil. This "radiation rocket" effect has important implications for systems with escape speeds of order the recoil velocity.…
Recent studies have shown that during their coalescence, binary supermassive black holes (SMBHs) experience a gravitational recoil with velocities of 100 km/s < v(kick) < 600 km/s. These velocities exceed the escape velocity v(esc) from…
Recent work paints a conflicting portrait of the distribution of black hole spins in merging binaries measured with gravitational waves. Some analyses find that a significant fraction of merging binaries contain at least one black hole with…
The inspiral and merger of two black holes produces a remnant black hole with mass and spin determined by the properties of its parent black holes. Using the inferred population properties of component black holes from the first two and a…
In this paper we propose a novel technique to constrain the progenitor binary black hole (BBH) formation history using the remnant masses and spins of merged black holes (BHs). Exploring different models, we found that dynamically formed…
Primordial black holes (PBHs) are well-motivated candidates for cold dark matter and may also account for a fraction of the binary black hole mergers observed by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration. In this study, we investigate the…
We show that a black-hole binary with an external companion can undergo Lidov-Kozai cycles that cause a close pericenter passage, leading to a rapid merger due to gravitational-wave emission. This scenario occurs most often for systems in…
We study the evolution of the binary black hole (BBH) mass distribution across cosmic time. The second gravitational-wave transient catalog (GWTC-2) from LIGO/Virgo contains BBH events out to redshifts $z \sim 1$, with component masses in…
Coalescing binary black holes experience an impulsive kick due to anisotropic emission of gravitational waves. We discuss the dynamical consequences of the recoil accompanying massive black hole mergers. Recoil velocities are sufficient to…
Several astrophysical scenarios have been proposed to explain the origin of the population of binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected in gravitational waves (GWs) by the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration. Among them, BBH mergers assembled…
Gravitational waves can be focussed by the gravity of an intervening galaxy, just like light, thereby magnifying binary merging events in the far Universe. High magnification by galaxies is found to be responsible for the brightest sources…
The LIGO/Virgo collaboration has by now observed or constrained the gravitational merger rates of different classes of compact objects. We consider the possibility that the bulk of these mergers are primordial black hole (PBH) mergers of…